Spring-power motor.



A. C. RUTZ EN.

,SPRING POWER MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.2,19I4. I v I 1,178,947. I Patented Apr. 11; 1916.

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Qw ta ulax infi m WC% 8! a Mizzrsses:

A. C. RUTZEN.

SPRING POWER MOTOR.

I 7 APPLICATION FILED .|AN.2,1914- 1,178,947. Patented Apr. 11,1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

A. C. 'RUTZEN.

. SPRING Powza MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2, 1914.1 v 1,178,947 I Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 5- A. C. RUTZEN.

SPRING POWER MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-2,1914.

Patented Apr. 11,1916.

7 SHEETS-SHED 6.

A. C. RUTZEN.

SPRING POWER MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.2,1914.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

o .l N: 5 12;. E. 55 25 1 SHEETSS HEET 7.

4 AUGUST enurz'mv, or omvnmnfomofsrnme rownn. oron.

To allabhom it may concern: M

. Beit known that I, AUGUST. C. RUTZEN,

' a citizen of the UnitedtStates, residing at fication.

;Cleveland,.in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented"certain newand useful Improvements in Spring-Power.

Motors, of which the following is a speci- This invention consists in'a'spring-power 2 tially as shown and described and v larly pointed out inthesclaims. V

. In the accompanying'drawings, Figure 1' is a side elevation of themachine, and dismotor constructed and operating substanclosing'lthe'fly-wheel on the opposite side.

Fig. {2- is a horizontal sectional plan view' on a line' correspondingto central axis of- Fig. 1. Fig. 3fis' a sectional elevation ofthe-machine corresponding substantiall to line '3'3,' -on',Fig. 2,looking inward.

4 is a sectional elevationof the machine on a line corresponding to 44,FigQ-Q. Fig. 5

is a sectional elevationof'the machine on a line corresponding to'44,Fig. 2, looking outward and disclosing the rewinding mechj anism; Fig. 6is a centralsectional elevation of the machine on a linecorrespondingsubstantially to 6 6, F ig. 2, lookingto the 1 left/or towardtheafly-wheel. Fig. 7 is a v 1 I. corresponding in the main to line -7-7, Fig. 2, but showing only the-power springs with those {on thesameisha sideIelevation more or less diagrammatic t'projected laterallyto. disclose therelative windings of all the springs. Fig. 8 is adiagrammatic view show ng one of the helical springs 'in full J 'linesand eight radiating dotted lines to .1 represent the relative tension ofeight of i such} springs in thecycle as 40 the mainframe uponwhich allthe operating parts 'are :mounted',.and a skeleton structure ispreferable and may be cast in a single piece orl-built up in as manyseparate pieces as. shall seem desirable. main shaft S, to whichall thepower from the springs is delivered, is located at the center of thesaid frame in anti-friction.bearings,'fprefer- 'ably, and all the springactuated Shafts 8 and the springs2 thereon-are. disposed ini one of mymachin'es.

planetary order about the said central or solar shaft Sin alcircle atequal distances therefrom and'from'each other and in suitablebearings inthe mainframe.v v

The power springs 2 are arranged on the shafts s-in palrs, in thisinstance, but the I Specification ofLetters Patent,

particuactually used in a imation filed January 2, 1914-. Serial No.809,851. a

" Pa'tented'Apr. 11, 1916.

:v machine can be run with a single spring on each shaft though notjassatisfactorily as with two ormore. ';,Of course the volume of powerobtained any size of machine will depend on the number andv size. of thesprings, and hence the machine may be said to have infinitepossibilities since the number. of springs on each shaft-may bemultiplied and the size increased without any I present knownlimitations. Thesaid' springs are helical in form andencircle the shaftss in suitable housings or casings 0, mounted, rigidly upon the saidshafts. 'l-he outer end of each springis secured to; t he outer wall ofits casing and the. ,innerend to the hub of ajwinding disk d free on itsshaft, the said .hub extending within said casing and hav ingthe innerend of the spring aflixedthereto, the said disk lying close against theotherwiseopenside of said casing. ,The said disk. also is providedwithfour several I notches or teeth 3 on its periphery spaced quarterdistances apart and adapted to be engaged by spring pressed pawls 6Supported onthe mainframe and preventing unwinding of the springs- Agreater number of notches or teeth may be used, if desired. Poweristransmitted from the said springs through said shafts s to the mainshaft S by intermediate-mechanism of several kinds, as shownh'erein, butnot necessarily different. Infact a single kindof transmitting parts forall; machines of a given size is manifestly 'better' for both economy ofmanufacture and convenience in use, as must be obvious, and inany eventallsuch mechanisms of whatever kind or character must work harmoniouslytogether and provide for identically the. same speed of rotation in eachand all the driving shafts 1 s, also forobvious reasons-and particularlyon account of the rewinding mechanism common to all. Therefore, in thepresent illustration, each of the. several shafts 8113s a gear. 9 fixedon one end thereof which transmits-through gears g and g? as. seen thelower side, portions of Fig.3, or the equivalent of these inthe "upperside portions of the same. figure where transmission is through thegears 921 and 9 to the gear 9 1 n shaft S. -'Or I can employ a sprocketchain connection 9*? and get the same result as ineither of the othertwo, that is, the delivery of the power from the springs to shaft S. Theforegoing idle.

gears differ in sizes here and there but ho d I adapted to be engaged bythe-winding-up' gle ratchet or toothed wheel 4 or 1' for each spring andwhich is fixed by screws or otherwise to the side of the disk at andgear wheel 9, loosely mounted on shaft S. The said toothed or ratchetwheels 4 and 4 preferably have teeth of saW tooth shape as shown,adapted to be operatively engaged by the series of teeth 1- on the saidwheel 9 as seen in Figs. 2 and 4. Two such series of teeth 1' areemployed, one on each side of said wheel back of its periphery and sodisposed in respect to each other that the first series will leave thecorresponding ratchet gear 4 after winding the spring operativelyconnected therewith before the other series on the other side will comeinto engagement with the other or opposite gear 4: and wind the secondspring on that shaft. The rotation of the parts aflected by each seriesof teeth 1' is equal to a quarter turn of the disk d, or fromone notchor tooth 3 therein to the next succeeding one, the pawl e holding whathas been taken up in each separate quarter rotation. If additionalsprings are employed on a shaft they will of course be provided withadditional winding mechanism of the kind just described, and all theshafts S and s proportionately lengthened.-

The said toothed winding wheel 9 is loose on shaft S, as described, andis driven ;intermittentlv through pinion 6 on transverse shaft 7 andoperating connections with said shaft extending back to the fly wheelshaft 10. The said shaft 10 and wheel to are located on the oppositeside of the' machine from the driving gear connections for shafts s andS, and power is delivered from shaft S through the master wheel H fixedthereon, the pinion k and pulley h on stud 12. as seen in Fig. 2. Thesaid wheel H also delivers power to the fly-wheel through a pinion 12mounted on short shaft 11 and gear wheel 13 on the same shaft andoperatively engaging pinion 14 on flywheel shaft 10. The distribution ofenergy through these mechanisms-is proportionately less than for use atpulley h.

The rewinding mechanism begins with thefly-wheel shaft 10 and ispractically independent of the power line issuing in the pulley h. Thesaid mechanism comprises the pinion 6 and wheel 9 and the parts 4 and dhereinbefore described as well as the shaft 7 which carries the saidpinion 6 and has its bearings in the opposite. sides of the machine. Apinion 15 is mounted on the opposite end of said shaft from the pinion 6and is meshed by a. mutilated gear 16 on a stud 17 supported in the mainframe. The said pinion 15 also is notched 0r blanked in approximatelyone-fourth-of its periphery and adapted to be locked by gear 16 as saidnotch engages the blank edge of said gear and at predetermined intervalsaswill presently be seen. Power is transmitted to the said winding wheel9 through the gears 15 and 16 and the elliptical gearzl8, rigid withgear 16, and another and similar elliptical gear 20 mounted on a stud 21and .in constant mesh with the gear 18. The latter gear, 20, is rigidwith a gear 22 mounted on the same stud and engaged by pinion 23 v onthe extremity of fly wheel shaft 10. In-

point of gear 18. At this juncture one of the series of teeth 1' on thewinding wheel 9 'termittent rotation is imparted to the contacts withone of the ratchet gears 4 or 1 and winds the corresponding spring onthe shaft then exposed. Such action or movement is about completed whenthe parts are related as seen in Figs. 4 and 5. In suchposition theblank 14 on pinion 15 will come in contact with the blank on gear 16 andthe said parts will be locked, temporarily. Meantime rotation of theseveral gears 16, 18 and 20 continues at varying speeds and the nextre-winding occurs when the teeth on gear 16 come aroundinto engagementwith pinion 15. This occurs after the two gears 18 and 20 have made acomplete revolution and are back again'with the low point of gear 20directly upon the high point of gear 18. As this occurs the secondspring on the shaft 8 will be wound and the advance teeth of the firstsector 1- will be proximate engagmg relations with-the exposed ratchetwheel 4 on the next succeed ing shaft .9, and so on'around thecircle inendless and repeated operations. It is to be especially observed thatthe momentum of the high speeded fly wheel is mainly relied upon to dothe re-winding rather than power taken directly from the springs.

It will also be understood that, to begin with, all the springs arewound by hand or powerdevicesto the desired tension for each, and thatthereafter the re-winding is auto matic and successive from spring tospring on the same shaft and from shaft to shaft in continuous roundwhile the machine is 11111- ning. My plan contemplates the initialwinding of the springs to different tensions same winding as spring o asit corresponds eflect a rewinding of a given-spring as blankportion'over the notch in pinion 15".

"all around and I can also extend each series.

brief and not such as to'really affect the 'speed of thefly wheeL-j Italso'occurs that the re-winding mechanism is idle'or' at rest? asmore'or less arbitrarily shown in Figs. 7 and 8 and the winding maytherefore bedescribed as running from zero in the primary or startingspring 0 in the dotted line orbit of that series to the last or finalspring 2 therein, but spring y on the same shaft as spring ais' shown ashaving substantially the to am the othervs'eries or orbit. I havedescribed a quarter turn of the re winding disks as suificientfor'practical purposes, but it should'be understood that can provide thesame with'continuousteeth of teeth 1' on the rewinding yvheel 9-to suchnumber that a complete-revolution can be given to said-disk instead of aquarter rotation as at present. This of course means that the unwindingof the springs in action will be equal to at least a single convolutionof each spring as votherwise they would be liable to be wound tootightly. 1 7

The fly-wheel may travel'ata rate, of say eighteen hundred revolutionsp'er'minute, but the speed is geareddown to the rewinding wheel 9so'thatnot exceeding about forty revolutions of the fly-wheel arerequired to shown. Hence this action 'i's'exceedingly,

at predetermined intervals, so. that the fly: wheel can recuperate?Whatever slight momentum it" might-have lost in the last re-y windingoperation. The said .-rest. period occurs while thesaid gear 16 is"passing its I Respecting the ellipses'.1 8:,and-20 it isto beobservedthatin-addition tofthe advantageous leveragei-fthey afl'ordtopconvey there-winding force to the springs, giving a maximum ofapplied energy for amlnlmum A brake mechanism is provided;- whereby themachine, can be checked or stopped; as shown in Figs, =;1 ,.2 and-4.."The said mechexpended, they insure an 7 easy rollingen. gagement aftereach period of rest, and there is no jar or shock 'Whenthe're-windingwheel' 9. is brought intorepeated actions.

,anism' is of theinatu re ofia twQ-partjlclanip by probably strip thevpower-- gears, as' has: beenmy experience- The s'aid braketherein eachand adapted fto; engage upon, the pcturning to the left to release-them.A comparatively slow and entirely safe braking of v the machine'ispossible by these means, and the machine will automatically resume opveration when the brake is released.

. It will be seen by reference to Fi 5, particularly,'that the variablespeed 0 rotation imparted through the ellipses 18 and 20 to gears 15 and16 which rotate the winding wheel 9 are so arranged that the maximum ofpower is delivered from the fiy-wheel at the minimum speed of rotationin the 'mem- .ber 18 which carries gear 16 as a fixed member,'the objectbeing, of course, to do the winding at the least possible expense of poer. and thereby leastdisturb the steady for ard movement of the machine.I 'In this.

connection it may also be noted that I might employ an escapementmechanism to maintain balances or uniformspeedat the power or pulleyside under all conditionsof operation but do not really need-it if thefly wheel. be of-the right size and weight and which ef course variesaccording tothe size of the machine. If thesaid wheel be suitablybalanced,"say in an electric lighting installation having adynamocoupled up therewith, there will be no perceptible flicker orwaiver of the lights. The converse of the operation above described,follows at the time the wind ving wheel is standing still and theellipse 20 is crossing the piv t end of ellipse 18.

Fig. 7 magnifies to the eye the difi'erenc'es of winding in the doubleseries of springs, butiin my present operative machine, each helicalspring 2 is relatively heavy and powerfuland is only wound a quarter ofa turn to obtain the maximum tension desired,

and this quarter winding of the spring occursinitially at the extremeinner end of the coil as indicated in Fig. 8 wherein the spring is shownin full lines as uncoiled and under little or no tension; Winding of thespring to itsmaximumtension is represented by the dotted radial line'8and the relative tension of each spring in a cycle of eight isrepregear. wheel 9.

Respectingthe operation of the machine 'sented by the eight radial linesnumbered 1 'from "-1 to 8. This relative tension of the {springs issubstantially constant as the I mechanism described winds each springsuccessively from minimum (1) to maximum herein described, .it should beunderstood thatI do not'claim thatthe machine will run perpetually, nordo I mean to fix any length of time that it will run, because much willdepend on the kindand amount of work that -.is put upon it. 7 However, Ido claim that the ;machine will do usefulwork for a longer or r Ishorter period, subject to conditions, and

that by the 'kindfof springs and their'disposition in the machine andthe rewinding mechanism substantially as described, the

duration of operation is materially prolonged over what would bepossible with the same springs without such rewinding mechanism.

What I claim is: v t

1. A spring power motor comprising a series of parallel drive shafts anda driven shaft operatively connected with said series of shafts throughindependent means to each, a plurality of springs on each of said driveshafts, and a line of mechanism adapted to wind up said shaftssuccessively comprising a fly wheel from which the winding proceeds.

2. A spring power motor comprising a power drivenshaft and a series ofdrive shafts operatively connected therewith and having springs to turnthe same, a fly wheel actuated from said power driven shaft and meansactuated by said wheel to rewind the said springs successively.

' 3. A spring power motor having a series of parallel shafts and springsthereon and a central shaft driven thereby, a fly-wheel driven by saidcentral shaft and a line of winding mechanism for said springs actuatedby said wheel and comprising a single wheel adapted to wind one springat a time.

4. A spring driven motor and means to wind up the springs thereincomprising a fly-wheel and devices having initial drive connection withthe axis of said wheel and adapted to operate intermittently in thewinding of the springs.

5. A motor comprising a central shaft and a series of radially disposeddriving springs about the same, a fiy-wheel operated from said shaft andmeansto wind said springs comprising an intermittent mechanism actuatedby said fly-wheel.

6. A spring power motor having a driven shaft and a. series of radiallydisposed drive shafts in parallel relation therewith, transmitting meansbetween said drive shafts and said driven shaft, springs mounted on saiddrive shafts and a fly-wheel and means therewith adapted to workintermittently and wind one of said springs at a time.

7. A spring power motor having a series of spring driven shafts andwinding mechanism for the springs comprising a fly-whel and anintermittently actuated gear and means therewith to wind the said seriesof springs successively.

'8. A spring power motor having a series of drive shafts arranged in acircle and a plurality of springs on eachshaft, and a wheel adapted totravel from shaft to shaft and to wind the springs on the same shaftsuccessively before passingto the next shaft.

9. A spring power motor having a winding mechanism for the springscomprising a centrally disposed winding wheel and means to actuate saidwheel at fixed intervals comprising a mutilated gear and pinion and adriving mechanism for said gear adapted to deliver the maximum of powerwhen said gear engages said pinion and the minimum when said parts areout of mesh.

10. A spring power motor having a spring winding mechanism adapted toengage a single spring at a time and means to act intermittently thereoncomprising elliptical driving gears and mutilated gears actuated by saidelliptical gears.

11. A spring driven motor having winding means comprising a fly-wheeland a spring winding wheel constructed to wind a single spring at a timeand means to rotate said wheel at predetermined intervals havingmutilated gears and elliptical gears to actuate the same in powerconnection with said fly wheel.

12. A spring motor havingaspring winding mechanism consisting of awinding wheel and means therewith to wind the springs successively anddrive mechanism for said wheel comprising a fiy-whcel and means actuatedthereby and constructed to impart an intermittent rotation to saidwinding wheel.

13. A spring power motor comprising a series of radially disposed driveshafts and springs thereon and a central driven shaft, in combinationwith winding mechanism for said springs comprising a fiy-wheeland aspring winding wheel geared back to said fly-wheel by means adapted toimpart an intermittent rotation to said winding Wheel.

14:. In spring driven motors, a rewinding mechanism for the springscomprising means at each spring to engage the same and a winding wheelconstructed .to engage said means, in combination with a fly-wheel anddevices adapted to convert the constant rotation of said fly-wheel intoan intermittent rotation .of said Winding wheel.

15.- In a spring motor, a series of parallel shafts arranged in a circleand a plurality of springs side by side on each shaft, in combinationwith means to wind the said springs comprising a toothed wheel for eachspring and a winding wheel'having teeth oppositely at its sides arrangedto engage successively with said toothed wheels on each shaft. 7

16. A spring motor comprising a central driven shaft anda series ofpower springs radially disposed about the same and in driving relationstherewith and means for drive shafts and provided each with retheirinner ends, whereby said springs are q kept in transmitting relationswhen rewind- 1ng occurs.

18. A spring motor having a series of power sprlngs situated in a circleand drive shafts on which said springs are mounted,

- a power shaft and power transmitting means operatively connecting saiddrive shafts with said power shaft, and means adapted to wind the saidsprings successively while the shaft carrying the same is impartingpower and the springs are active.

19. A spring motor comprising a series of parallel drive shafts andpower springs thereon, a driven shaft having operating connections withthe said drive shafts, rewinding mechanisms for said drive shafts and awheel adapted to rotate and engage said mechanisms successively, thesaid rewinding mechanismbeing so constructed as to permit'the springthat is being rewound to be active while rewinding occurs.

20. A spring motor machine having a driven shaft and parallel driveshafts about the same and in driving relations therewith, power springson said drive shafts and means to wind said springs While the springsare active comprising mechanism having a fly wheel and a central gearwheel adapted to cease rotation at predetermined intervals, and to windsaid springs successively.

21. A spring power motor comprising a series of drive shafts havingsprings thereon and means to wind said springs including special windingmeans at each spring and a wheel adapted to rotate and tostop atpredetermined intervals and to wind one spring at a time, the saidsprings being fixed to rotate said drive shafts during the rewindingoperation.

22. In spring driven motors, a series of parallel circularly disposeddrive shafts having each a plurality of springs thereon and means towind all said springs successively from shaft to shaft, said meanscomprising a wheel adapted to wind two springs on the same shaft beforerotating to the next succeeding shaft and provided with ratchet teeth onopposite sides and a ratchet mechanism associated with each springadapted to be engaged by said teeth.

23. A spring motor having a series of power springs and shafts carryingthe same,

in combination with means to wind I said springs. comprising a housingfor each spring, a ratchet disk having a hub to which the inner end ofthe spring is attached, a toothed wheel fixed to the side of saidratchet disk and a power drivengear'wheel provided with teeth at itsside adapted to engage said ratchet disks and teeth on its periphery toengage said toothed wheels.

- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

AUGUST C. BUTZEN. Witnesses:

R. B. MOSER, E. M. FISHER.

